Personal finance

Anchiy | E+ | Getty Images There’s been a wave of state-level tax cuts spurred by budget surpluses, and more breaks may be coming, according to policy experts. “States have a lot of revenue on hand and they are looking to return it to taxpayers,” said Katherine Loughead, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation.

skaman306 | Moment | Getty Images Millions of underbanked people around the world are finally getting access to financial products such as savings accounts, investing and loans. They have technology to thank. “There’s this new type of excitement about putting your money to work for you,” Flori Marquez, the founder and senior vice president of

Fg Trade | Istock | Getty Images If your three-year auto lease is coming to an end soon, be aware that your car may be worth far more than you realize. The 2022 average trade-in value for 2019 model-year vehicles is 33% higher ($7,208) than the predetermined residual value — a vehicle’s worth at the

People wear face masks outside a supermarket on the Upper West Side in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images Government data shows that inflation has broken another 40-year plus record. And even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen predicted higher prices could be with us for the rest of this year. “We’re likely to see

Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and other digital assets like non-fungible tokens, pose “significant risks and challenges” to 401(k) investors, including fraud, theft and financial loss, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. The labor agency warned that employers that add crypto investments to their company

Tara Moore | Getty Images Retirees who are feeling the pinch of higher prices, take heart: There could be a much bigger Social Security cost-of-living adjustment next year. A preliminary estimate from The Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan senior group, finds that the 2023 cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, could be as high as 7.6%, based

Getty Images Most Americans carry some debt, be it from student loans, a mortgage, credit card or a car loan. But what happens to debt management when you’re in or near retirement? While many Americans were able to pay off some of their debt in the early days of the pandemic when restrictions on activity

marekuliasz | iStock | Getty Images As conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to send shock waves through the markets, many investors may be questioning what, if anything, they should do next. The most common advice is to stay the course. That can be difficult on days like Tuesday, when fresh losses prompted both the

Anchiy | E+ | Getty Images Lawmakers are considering a proposal to let 401(k) plans include annuities as a “default” investment option. Under a bill in the House, as much as 50% of a participant’s contribution could be put in an annuity, under certain circumstances. The idea, said supporters of the provision, is to help

Richiesd | E+ | Getty Images If you want to change careers, you are not alone. It turns out the “Great Resignation,” also known as the “Great Reshuffle,” has many Americans rethinking the type of work they are doing. Some 53% of employed U.S. adults who quit their job in 2021 changed their occupation or

The U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Caroline Brehman | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images The U.S. Department of Education has directed the companies that service federal student loans not to send out notices about payments restarting in May, according to two people familiar with the matter. Servicers that would have sent out

Nine-year-old student Roberto Nieves Fernandez studies personal finance topics on his laptop using online resource center SmartPath. SMARTPATH Florida is poised to become the largest state to make a financial literacy course mandatory for high school graduation. The Florida Senate on Friday unanimously passed SB 1054 and sent it to the state House of Representatives,

In this article LC As daily life gets more expensive, workers are having a harder time making ends meet. While wage growth is high by historical standards, it isn’t keeping up with the increased cost of living, which is growing at the fastest annual pace in about four decades. “Wages are up 5.1% over the past year,

With gasoline prices at a 14-year high, it’s hard to imagine paying even more at the pump. Yet prices are only heading higher. On Sunday, the national average for a gallon of gas hit $4.009, the highest since July 2008, according to data from AAA.  An increase in demand along with a reduction in supply

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | DigitalVision | Getty Images If you have a flexible savings account for health-care expenses, it’s probably worth checking whether any of that money is on the verge of disappearing. An estimated $1 billion in those accounts could be forfeited in 2022, according to an estimate from FSAstore.com. Some forfeitures could

skynesher | E+ | Getty Images The idea of walking away from your job may sound appealing, but do you really know what you want to do instead? About 47 million Americans quit last year in what is being called “the Great Resignation” or the “Great Reshuffle.” Some left for new jobs or completely new

You can use buy now, pay later for just about everything these days. Since the start of the pandemic, installment payments have exploded in popularity along with a general surge in online shopping. In some cases, spreading out the cost of a big-ticket purchase — like a Peloton, for example — makes financial sense, especially at 0%.

Bloom Productions A retirement-savings option that can be smart at the outset of your career probably needs to be reexamined down the road. Target-date funds, as they’re called, offer a way to put your savings on autopilot: Holdings gradually shift away from riskier assets like stocks and toward more conservative investments (bonds and, perhaps, cash)

LinkedIn employees are treated to “surprise and delight” moments through the tech company’s LiftUp program. LinkedIn Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas like remote work, flexible hours, four-day workweeks, compensation and more.

The Internal Revenue Service headquarters building in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images The IRS on Friday unveiled a new Taxpayer Experience Office as part of a long-term plan to improve customer service issues. The office will focus on “all aspects of taxpayer transactions,” working closely with the Taxpayer Advocate